Urgent cry of land use advocates to Senators

Make LAWS, not War!

By  Angelica Carballo

         0915-9260371/akcarballo@gmail.com

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - “We expected to witness the approval of the Land Use Bill on 2^nd reading yesterday and instead we were caught in a crossfire that did not involve lawmaking. Senators, please get on with your job!”

Supporters of the National Land Use Bill (NLUA) could not help utter dismay and irritation at the Senators’ bickering over the unequal distribution of additional funds that was released by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile last December 2012.

“We grow more and more anxious for the fate of NLUA. This important bill has been languishing in Congress for more than two decades now and it is now being put on hold, along with other important laws, over an ill-timed scandal,” exclaimed Campaign for Land Use Policy Now! (CLUP Now!) convenor Anthony Marzan.

“By 2015, our population will hit the 100 million mark already. The government continues to ignore the loss of farmland and water sources from rapid urbanization and climate change. We need to preserve our agricultural land and critical watersheds as soon as possible if we will survive this century. This is a major goal that the National Land Use Policy aims to achieve,” Marzan said.

The NLUA has been scheduled for deliberations since January 21 but no individual amendments took place because of the senators’ disagreement over the release of additional ‘maintenance and operating expenses’ (MOOE).

On January 23, the NLUA again was scheduled for deliberations but was sideswiped anew, with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano giving a privilege speech countered by Enrile.

Datu Eduardo Banda, chair of the Koalisyon ng mga Samahang Katutubo ng Pilipinas (KASAPI), came all the way from Kidapawan City, Cotabato to give input to questions about ancestral domains from Senators on the Land Use bill.

He asserted, “We respect the need for the Senate members to exact transparency and accountability from its leaders but this is not the right time or place. There are only 6 session days left. Please pass the laws that this nation needs, such as the NLUA!”

At present, a total of 35 bills are awaiting the action of the Senate, including the bills on Strengthening the Witness Protection, Security and Benefit Program, Comprehensive Regulation of Firearms, Light Weapons, and Ammunitions, and the NLUA.

The NLUA was first filed in 1992 during the 9^th Congress. After more than two decades, House Bill 6545 or the National Land Use and Management Act, finally passed on the third and final reading in the Lower House last September 2012. It now awaits approval on Second Reading in the Senate and finally, its ratification before the 3^rd regular session of the 15^th Congress adjourns.